E-mail, Feeds, 'n' Stuff

Monday, June 29, 2009

Guess who (cough)

Multnomah and Washington Counties are among the Top 10 worst locales in the country for airborne risk of cancer, according to this list. The official data on which the article is based can be found here.

yep. I've been pointing out this sort of thing for years. Portland and suburbs are not just "less bad", they're often worse than many parts of the country. our urban rivers and air, for example, are often just plain awful.

which is why I continue to hope that Portland--and Oregon--will lead the way on putting human and ecological health first, always, instead of delusional, masturbatory fantasies like LEED, "triple bottom line", and "urban growth boundary".

I wonder if the high level of Benzene in our gasoline has anything to do with this? The oil companies refuse to remove this from our gas while the EPA stands by as a silent partner in our poisoning. I can imagine a day in the not to distant future when scientists are able to pinpoint the precise cause of any given cancer in humans. It could become the mother of all class action lawsuits as the heirs of the people needlessly killed by Benzene exposure sue the oil companies who were trying to squeeze an extra fraction of a penny in profit out of each gallon they processed.

While having nothing but anecdotal evidence, and recollection of a Portland Tribune article from sometime last year or previous, the Northwest (and Alaska) does have higher Benzene content in fuel distributed here, and it was traced to higher Benzene concentration in North Portland, tapering off with each block you moved away from I-5.

I'm sure all the vehicles idling in traffic and burning more fuel per mile while in the central city has no adverse effects on air quality at all either. Oh wait, I should have used sarcasm tags instead of bold.

Road Work

Miles run year to date: 156
At this date last year: 225
Total run in 2014: 401
In 2013: 257
In 2012: 129
In 2011: 113
In 2010: 125
In 2009: 67
In 2008: 28
In 2007: 113
In 2006: 100
In 2005: 149
In 2004: 204
In 2003: 269